A growing body of progressives within the global justice movement, including environmentalists, economists and policy makers, broadly agree that a significant overhaul of the world’s economic and political systems is long overdue, and that without significant restructuring our most pressing problems will never be tackled.

Whilst financial wealth soars to new heights for the few, the majority world are growing relatively poorer in the face of unfair trade, debt-based finance and grossly insufficient international aid. At the same time, developing countries have to endure the harsh environmental consequences of the industrial growth that fuels the skewed generation of wealth. Instead of being given the tools to end poverty they find themselves forced to systematically abdicate democratic control over their economies and resources to economically dominant countries and corporations.

Whilst economists and policy makers of the G8 nations remain comfortable in their runaway train of neo-liberal policies, we cannot rely on governments to instigate change until after the train collides. Their systematic prioritization of competition, self-interest, market forces, economic growth and the blatant subsidizing of corporate activity has created an unsustainable, commercialized society and has distorted the very meaning and function of economics. In a world where 2.7 billion people live on less than two-dollars-a-day and 50,000 people die as a result of poverty each day, economic practice can no longer claim to ensure the efficient distribution of resources for all, but rather the maximization of wealth generation without regard for consequence.

It is clear to many that the rogue train is on a collision course with environmental devastation and global economic and financial instability . If that isn’t enough, old Cold War divisions from renewed competition over resources and resentment from marginalized communities throughout the world present themselves as security threats, which are potentially catastrophic in a nuclear age.

It is time for a significant re-evaluation of global economic and political values and the creation of an economy that serves the needs of the global community as a whole, within our environmental limitations. It may seem a vein hope that policy makers will wake-up before the collision, but we can at least be sure that they will take heed once they emerge from the wreck.

Amongst the many fundamental flaws of the global economy are the
rapidly globalizing market forces which hold self-interest and
competition at their heart. To fuel these forces, there is the unending
privatization of resources for the sake of security and profit, and the
propagation of economic growth as the panacea for development. This all
rests within a corrupt and unstable global financial architecture based
largely on speculation and bearing no relevance to the lives of most
people. Within this structure, multinational corporations have thrived
and shaped the thwarted ideals of consumer society, ensuring grave
environmental neglect through overconsumption. In the meantime, the
scourge of mass poverty has been neglected and left to commerce and
damaging export-oriented trade and agricultural practices that
prioritize profit over food security.

With climate change, financial instability and political and economic
competition between nations, humanity finds itself at the edge of a
dark abyss. Fundamental change is inevitable, and a just and
sustainable economy is required at the very least to secure basic human
rights and needs for all people everywhere as a priority, ensuring that
corporate enterprise serves the public good and that all economic
activity occurs within ecological limits and a strict framework for
emission reductions.

An effective and uniting global framework for economic and political
activity must supersede the restrictive and often divisive
prescriptions of socialism, communism and capitalism. Once we overcome
such ideologies, many comprehensive and inclusive solutions to these
problems present themselves through the work of individuals and
institutions around the world. Proposals by ‘green economists’, the
International Forum on Globalization, proponents of ‘localization’ and
others propose generally to root economic activity in local communities
as a way of reducing CO2 emissions, reducing corporate power and
reinforcing participatory democracy.

What is missing from these and other proposals, which have at times
been interpreted as protectionist and regressive, is an overarching
concept for how the global community can continue to operate in an
interdependent and globalised capacity, in line with the observable
cultural shift towards international unity. The more basic question is
how can the outdated values of privatization, self-interest and
competition - which drive economic globalization - be fundamentally
transformed to reflect principles that more accurately embody our
humane nature?

Shifting Economic Values

Privatization, or the enclosure of the global commons
for the sake of marketable and profitable commodities, is (and has been
since the Middle Ages) the process at the very heart of our
individualistic and competitive economy. For centuries, various forms
of privatization have allowed corporations
to proliferate and amass wealth and influence at the behest of dominant
governments and to the advantage of the minority world. Both the
commercial drive for profit and the increasingly hostile relationships
between many countries stems from this same urge to secure and protect
ones national interests. If these selfish drives are not directly
transformed as part of any new political and economic framework, any
restructuring will be superficial and a return to current geo-political
tensions will be inevitable.

Common ground must be established and humanity’s common needs
acknowledged; cooperative global interests must replace competitive
self-interests. On an individual basis, within families and
communities, people have established this sense of unity through the
simple act of sharing what they own. Sadly, the process of sharing has
been neglected at the international level where it can ensure that the
basic needs of all are secured. Sharing, as a simple economic process,
cuts to the heart of international relations and has the potential not
only to unite, but to transform the driving values which underpin the
global economy and thereby guarantee the permanency of political and
economic reform.

Ensuring that those resources which are essential to life are no longer
owned by corporations or controlled by nationalistic governments is a
crucial step in creating a sustainable world economy which does not
segregate or disenfranchise, but guarantees to secure the basic needs
of all stakeholders. The global cooperative ownership of resources such
as basic food, clean water, energy and medicine will involve the
transformation of a variety of institutions and the creation of an
international trust which can manage these resources on behalf of the
global community.

The positive ramifications of identifying and sharing essential
resources are manifold and will address many of the key problems
presented above, including a significant reduction in corporate power, corporate trade
and commodity speculation as essential resources are removed from
commercial activity. The prioritization of local economies, food
security and the rapid distribution of the necessary resources needed
to achieve this will also lead to a rapid relief from poverty,
reduction in inequality, and the end of inadequate aid mechanisms which
are often ‘tied’ to benefit donors.

An international commitment to equally sharing our right to the
atmosphere, and our right to pollute it, alongside strict targets for
emissions reductions, will go a long way to ensuring the viability of
life on earth for future generations. The contraction and convergence mechanism works in line with the principle of sharing and provides the necessary framework for CO2 sustainability.

Most importantly, sharing the world’s resources will necessarily
internationalize and reinforce economic and political cooperation, thus
encouraging peaceful relations between nations. This can pave the way
for renewed international agreements on disarmament and
non-proliferation, and help end regional, national and sectarian
conflicts over resources such as land, water and minerals. With the
basic human needs of all people secured, the reasons for
disenfranchisement are directly addressed and the threat of terrorist
activity greatly reduced.

It should be reiterated that the goal of implementing a system of
sharing is twofold. Firstly to rapidly prioritize the needs of the
majority world, who presently go without essentials such as adequate
food, clean water and basic healthcare; and secondly to ensure that
political and economic reform penetrates the very heart of the ‘the
system’, transforming the values upon which it is built and not just
its operation. Unlike existing theories such as socialism, Marxism or
capitalism, sharing cannot be perceived as a divisive ideology by
anyone. Economic sharing is a simple and familiar human process which
recognizes the inherent unity of all nations and has the potential to
secure basic needs and establish a sustainable world through the global
common ownership of essential resources by the global public.

Proposing a System of Sharing

In proposing a possible framework within which resources can be
efficiently shared across the world to secure basic human needs, it
must be emphasized that this ‘proposal’ is not meant to constitute the
definitive method for establishing such a system, but merely presents a
possible and logical skeleton for consideration that can be amended
over time as further research is undertaken. Ultimately, global
economic reform and the establishment of any system of sharing will
only be possible after extensive dialogue at the international level,
quite probably under the auspices of the United Nations.

This proposal presents campaigners and activists with a viable
structure for reform to be considered and debated, and is aimed at
clarifying and substantiating a global call for sharing the world’s
resources by seeking to answer the question ‘how can sharing be
implemented in the global economy?’

It is unlikely that the necessary changes will occur until there is a
dramatic turn-around in the thrust of international policy objectives,
which may be most likely to occur after significant economic or
environmental crises, both of which are likely to occur in the near
future as economically dominant nations and multinational corporations
maintain the attitude of ‘business as usual’. It is inevitable that,
sooner or later, policy makers accept that excessive consumption,
fuelled by the liberalization of market forces and short-sighted profit
maximization, is the direct cause of climate change, and that these
same commercial forces have created an unstable global economy based on
speculation and sustained by governments pursuing economic growth at
all costs.

If not before, then it will be at this point of crisis that proposals
for far-reaching reform will be considered, and a recognition
established that we must work together as a global community if we are
to create a fairer and sustainable economy. Implicit and fundamental to
such thinking must be the recognition that securing the basic needs of
those who live in poverty must be the primary objective of any economic
system.

Any attempt to redistribute resources more equitably will require
global consensus for action and the transfer of economic power away
from multinational corporations to a council of governments as they
organize a framework within which essential resources, production and
services can be re-directed to prioritize the securing of basic human
needs.

International discussion is likely to centre on the United Nations
whose vast humanitarian experience places it in good stead to
coordinate reform, despite its many flaws.

The United Nations

Given its international membership and humanitarian charter, the UN
system is clearly the only international body with the experience and
resources to address global economic reform. In its current state,
however, the UN is far too handicapped to initiate such change. Over
the past 20 years, the US in particular has undermined the UN’s
effectiveness by withholding pre-agreed and essential funding. The main
reason for this is self preservation, as US economic hegemony is not
compatible with the UN’s humanitarian principles. Instead, funding has
been diverted to the largely undemocratic international financial
institutions that favor America’s economic ideologies – The WTO, World Bank and IMF.

The UN system must be restructured and revitalized, firstly to ensure
that the democratic power to make and act upon decisions resides within
the General Assembly. It should be also provided with all the resources
necessary to fulfill its original mandate of regulating global economic
affairs, strengthening international cooperation and promoting peace.
The UN must be allowed to live up to its charter, in particular Article 55.

International dialogue for reform must be centered on these principles,
alongside the principle of sharing as the appropriate value with which
to secure these universal rights. Once sharing has been accepted as the
guiding principle for a reformed economic system, it would be necessary
to create an additional, fully representative and accountable body
within the UN responsible for organizing a global framework for sharing
and thereafter to coordinate the global redistribution of resources.
For the time being we can call such a body the ‘UN Council for Resource
Sharing (UNCRS)’.

A United Nations Council for Resource Sharing (UNCRS)

All participant countries should be fairly represented in the UNCRS,
and all members would subscribe to a declaration of mutual benefit and
equality. At all stages, the process should be transparent and directed
by member countries representing their citizens’ needs. The activities
of the UNCRS would be strictly in the interests of the global
community, would be free of any national political or commercial gain
and would eventually replace existing international aid, development
and poverty reduction strategies.

Sharing essential resources would naturally create a more manageable
international trade and finance framework, under which existing
international financial institutions (such as the IMF, World Bank and
WTO) would be rendered broadly redundant and could be progressively dismantled.
Established agencies, such as the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC) and UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), are well
equipped to take over as the arbiters and overseers of the remaining
international trade, finance and development mechanisms.

An international strategy to rapidly alleviate extreme poverty and to
ensure that essential resources are shared in the longer term will
require the UNCRS to initiate two programs of reform. In the short
term a United Nations Emergency Redistribution Program (UNERP) – to end
needless deaths from extreme poverty, and in the longer term a global
system for sharing essential resources – The Global Sharing Network
(GSN) – to ensure an ongoing sharing of resources that can create a
more sustainable economy.

The United Nations Emergency Redistribution Program (UNERP)

A similar program to transfer essential resources from 'north to south' was first proposed in the Brandt Report (1980)
but, despite widespread approval, the necessary political will to
implement the proposals was sadly lacking. Humanity cannot afford this
level of political complacency again; not to act is to condemn millions
of people to needless hardship and death.

The process of an UNERP would be structurally and ideologically
different from existing aid mechanisms, and the goal would be to
prevent the deaths of the 50,000 people who die each day from poverty,
within a three year period. This would be achieved through the
universal provision of essential resources, regardless of cost
implications. The emphasis would be on the redistribution of existing
material resources, outside of the market system, and not simply the
pooling and redirection of patronage aid. Necessarily, countries with
the greatest surpluses of each individual resource would be first in
line to share their excess, a responsibility that would naturally fall
on the shoulders of more affluent and productive countries.

The UNCRS would utilize existing sources of data from UN agencies, the
World Bank and NGOs for these figures. Where there is insufficient or
disputed data, the UNCRS would turn to member country governments and
where necessary conduct local surveys within countries. This
information would form the basis of a global network for sharing
resources (as detailed below) as part of a more comprehensive system of
sharing.

Any such program would require calculating the most urgent national and
global requirements, which would include basic food, clean water and
essential medication. Available data would enable the UNCRS to
determine the quantities of each of these provisions that donors must
supply, and determine which countries are best placed to supply them.
The UNCRS would then coordinate international efforts to redistribute
these essential resources to where they are most urgently required. It
is feasible that the army, navy, air force, other military bodies as
well as members of the public around the world would be involved in the
redistribution effort.

The UN Emergency Redistribution Program (UNERP) differs significantly
from existing development structures as most of the ‘aid’ or
redistributed resources will not be channeled through governmental
bureaucracies, but mobilized directly on the ground where it is
required in the form of food, water and medicine. The resulting
self-sufficiency and direct access to resources will end the dependency
that developing countries have on systems of aid, which will in turn
bring an end to the existing aid mechanisms which are grossly
insufficient and often corrupted by political, economic or commercial
interests, or nation-specific foreign policy objectives.

Restructuring the World Economy and Sharing Resources

Reform of the world economy and the establishing of a wider system of
sharing should begin as soon as the UN Emergency Relief Program (UNERP)
has gained momentum. Whereas the UNERP is a tool for the immediate
relief of those in extreme poverty, a parallel restructuring of the
global economy would be necessary to ensure that the wider basic needs
of the global public can be met in perpetuity. This includes the right
to healthcare, education, housing and clothing.

Since the world economy is largely capitalistic at present and based on
production and consumption for the sake of wealth accumulation, the aim
of reform would be to mitigate the prevalence of market forces and
commercialization. In order to correct the unequal distribution of
resources around the world, to end poverty and to highlight the
commonality of nations, those resources which are common to all people
and necessary for life must be made universally available.
Re-establishing the stake that humanity has in the world's natural
resources, produced goods and services will necessarily involve
government intervention to minimize corporate and nationalistic control
over them.

The management, production and distribution of essential resources must
be organized to ensure that only after the basic human needs of all
people are satisfied can they be made commercially available to other
economic entities for the purpose of profitable production or
consumption. This must occur within a reformed commercial framework
which benefits local communities and ensures that resources are made
available for all nations to become self sufficient and productive to
the best of their capabilities.

Broader political and economic reform on a global scale will also be
necessary if sustainability and economic justice is to be permanently
established. Complimentary measures include implementing the principles
of economic localization and subsidiarity to significantly reduce
corporate influence, regulate corporate activity and strengthen local
economies, production and food security. Implementing the contraction
and convergence model of global carbon emissions reduction and
encouraging energy efficiency would, alongside many other measures,
also be crucial. Many other suitable measures for global reform have
gained wide support amongst progressives, activists and alternative
economists worldwide and cannot be discussed here.

Comprehensive reform can ensure that the selfish interests of economic
entities, whether they are countries or corporations, will be
superseded by the combined interests of the global community. A true
internationalism which can foster peaceful relations between nations
and the cooperative advancement of humanity can then be established.
Clearly many of the above measures are interdependent. For example, by
encouraging the local production and consumption of resources, the
inefficient and carbon heavy practices of international freight
transportation of many resources will be significantly reduced, making
it easier to achieve stricter emissions targets.

In order to institute a broader system of sharing it will be necessary
to determine more comprehensively what constitutes ‘essential
resources’, and therefore come to a global consensus regarding levels
of need and consumption. It will also be necessary to create a
framework to safeguard these resources and to establish a global
network to facilitate their international distribution. Each of these
issues is considered in more detail below.

Determining Essential Resources and Needs

Implicit in any such system, however, is the need for affluent
countries which currently over-consume resources to consume less and
learn to live sustainably within global ecological limits. Reducing
over-consumption and preventing unnecessary waste would ensure that
sufficient resources are available globally to meet all citizens’
needs.

Rampant and unnecessary commercialization can be addressed through measures to regulate corporate activity;
energy consumption can be reduced by cutting back on inefficient
corporate trade structures and lowering food miles; and economic
localization and sharing resources according to need can help further
develop distributional efficiency. A gradual contraction and
convergence method, similar to that applied to emission reductions by
the Global Commons Institute, would have to be employed in relation to
general consumption around the world.

In order to consider how the ownership and management of key resources
could be organized, it is useful to group them according to type. There
are three general categories:

The management of each of these types of resources would have to be
structured differently at the international level, which will require
an invigoration of some existing international bodies and the creation
of certain new mechanisms, as outlined below.

Holding Natural Resources in Trust - A Global Commons Trust

To reverse the insidious and selfish enclosure of the global commons,
the right for all to have access to and benefit from common resources
must be returned to world citizens. Only through responsible
trusteeship divorced from the profit motive can we be sure that the
world’s natural complement of resources can be managed sustainably to
secure the urgent needs of current and future generations. Common
resources could include land, water, the atmosphere, oil, gas, coal,
iron, bauxite, copper and other essential minerals and metals.

A trust is a suitable legal mechanism to ensure that essential
resources are managed in the interests of the global community.
Internationally identified common resources can be written into a
‘Global Commons Trust (GCT)’. The beneficiaries of the trust would be
all world citizens, whilst the trustees would be a fully representative
and international body – the UN Council for Research Sharing (UNCRS).
The trust would be created on the premise that the specified common
assets must be utilized in a manner that prioritizes securing the basic
needs of humanity.

Producing Essential Goods

Where it makes sound ecological and economical sense, the production of
goods from raw materials should be sited near to where the resources
are naturally located. Governments, working in cooperation with the
UNCRS, would then be responsible for organizing production to ensure
that global needs can be secured. Depending on the country of origin,
levels of local need, aggregate global needs and other factors, a
proportion of produced goods would be allocated for global
redistribution, whilst a portion would be made available for local
consumption.

Within the context of the wider reforms mentioned above, governments
would have a range of options open to them for how to organize the
production of goods such as basic agricultural produce, essential
medicine, and much-needed building materials. They could establish
national production facilities for goods which suit their national
compliment of resources through a process of full or part
nationalization of existing industries. However it may be more
efficient, especially in the early stages, to make use of the existing
productive facilities owned by multinationals, for example existing
producers could be mandated to donate a suitable proportion of their
goods to help secure global needs. Another option is that larger
corporations are broken down into their smaller components for local
communities to organize cooperative production facilities, as has been
the case in some Latin American countries such as Argentina.

Providing Essential Services

Currently the World Health organization (WHO) leads the field in
facilitating international healthcare and has detailed research on
where and which types of healthcare services are required. Similarly,
the United Nations Educational and Social Council (UNESCO) is at the
forefront of the ‘Education for All’ movement and has information
regarding how and where programs should be implemented and which
resources are necessary to secure universal education.

Apart from various awareness-raising and monitoring NGOs, however,
there is no global agency which is directly involved in overseeing the
provision of utilities such as water or energy. Increasingly, these
services are not even managed by governments but are in the hands of
private corporations.

Once the right to energy and water is internationalized through a
Global Commons Trust, a new World Utility Organization can begin to
coordinate the provision of essential utilities and engage in research
activities to ensure that relevant and up-to-date information is
available where required. Such an organization could coordinate local
groups, non-profit companies and cooperative organizations to manage
the provision of utility services. It may also be possible in the short
term for existing corporations, under international mandates, to lend
their expertise and resources to these projects.

A Global Sharing Network (GSN)

In order to practically establish a system of sharing within the global
economy, the UN Council for Resource Sharing (UNCRS) would set up and
coordinate a Global Sharing Network (GSN). The GSN would measure the
changing levels of excess production in each country, then calculate
how much of any resource a country is able to redistribute to another
and ensure that excess resources are shared efficiently and with
minimal impact on the environment, by ensuring that goods travel the
shortest possible distance at all times.

The UNCRS would provide logistical support in the creation of networks
within countries to ensure that correct information is fed back to the
GSN. Such networks are likely to comprise of civil society groups which
monitor resource levels locally and regionally, and a governmental body
which coordinates and collates this information to feedback to the GSN.
Members of the community would be encouraged to form local and regional
assemblies to ensure that the basic needs of the public are accurately
represented. They would also assist in the distribution of resources
received from other regions or countries.

The process of sharing basic resources in this way is essentially a
democratic and direct route to economic development. The method would
ensure a ‘bottom up’ development controlled by those most affected, and
not an imposed ‘top-down’ process. Local and regional assembly
structures of this kind would also enable genuine political
participation to become a reality.

How Sharing can Transform the World Economy

In a global economy where essential resources are shared, the primary
objective would not be commerce, trade liberalization or economic
growth, but the production and global distribution of all resources
that are essential to life. Adopting a system of sharing will mean that
the majority of commodities and goods that are currently traded would
instead be cooperatively owned and distributed by the global public
through the UN Council for Resource Sharing (UNCRS). As a result, international trade
in commodities and their derivatives will be significantly reduced and
confined to non-essential goods, and commercial interests would have no
direct influence on economic sharing. Corporations would operate within
this new global framework to serve the remaining economic, industrial
and technological needs of society.

Sharing would ensure that essential domestic needs are largely met at
the local level, thereby reducing dependency on foreign imports of
essential goods. As a consequence, there would be less need for
developing countries to agree to prohibitive trade agreements, whether
multilateral or bilateral. This would free the population to develop
their own industry and economy, making it eventually possible to
decommission the WTO. Divorcing essential resources from financial
markets will dramatically reduce the amount of stock and financial
derivatives related to the stocks that are speculated upon and traded.
This will help to reduce the global financial instability that many
economists and analysts believe will, sooner or later, result in an
international economic crisis and world stock market collapse.

Sharing resources would also mean that developing nations require less
foreign exchange reserves as they will be purchasing fewer goods from
abroad. This would reduce the need for developing countries to turn to
the IMF for loans and accrue crippling debts. It would therefore be
possible to eventually decommission the IMF.

Conclusion

A system of sharing should be implemented within a framework for wider
economic reform once policy makers admit that economic instability and
climate change are the result of unfettered market forces,
commercialization and overconsumption. The overriding impetus for
reform must be to create the necessary economic and political
conditions for ending poverty, protecting the environment and creating
a united world in which justice replaces inequality.

The common ownership of resources, goods and services which are
essential to life and their cooperative management by the international
community goes further than existing calls for economic reform which
include localization, subsidiarity and corporate regulation.
Implementing the principle of sharing in world economic and political
affairs replaces the values of competition and self-interest upon which
these systems are based with the more humane values of cooperation and
common interest. In this way, economic sharing ensures that fundamental
issues such as the prevalence of market forces are addressed by
removing key resources from commercial control, thereby reducing
corporate power and influence and destabilizing speculative activity on
financial markets.

Much more research and dialogue is clearly required at the
international level before any program of international reform and
economic sharing can be constructed. The above proposal, however,
provides a starting point for further research and demonstrates that it
is both necessary and possible for reform on this scale to be initiated
if the world community seriously commits itself to ending poverty,
mitigating climate change and creating a sustainable economy.

This is an edited version of a more detailed article which can be read here

Rajesh Makwana is the Director of Share The World's Resources
(STWR), an NGO campaigning for global economic and social justice. He
can be contacted at rajesh@stwr.net